


Shelf

by sgtcalhouns



Category: Wreck-It Ralph (Movies)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-19 10:37:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18134660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sgtcalhouns/pseuds/sgtcalhouns





	Shelf

_I’m tired of wastin’ all my time_  
My heart is hangin’ on the line  
…  
 **Please take me off the shelf**  
  
Too late to pretend  
You know me better than I know myself  
Don’t take my heart and put it on a shelf

* * *

 

“Can I ask you something?” 

“Sure, what’s up?”

Felix steeled himself before responding. He and Tamora were settled on her couch—he had been invited into her quarters after walking her home from a night out at Tapper’s. They had been seeing each other for quite some time now, but Felix found himself troubled by their relationship. Of course he had been all-in from day one, fully committing himself to the relationship by the time their third date rolled around. Tamora, however, was much more reserved. He knew this about her and tried his best to be understanding, but at times he found it hard to tell if she even wanted to be with him.

“D-Do you, um… Have you thought about, er—” he paused, exhaling a deep breath. “What I mean to say is—”

“Just spit it out, Fix-It,” Tamora interjected, somewhat amused by his flustered babbling.

“How serious is our relationship to you?” he finally asked.

“What?” she asked, the lighthearted amusement she had felt just moments ago vanishing completely.

“I don’t mean to put you on the spot, it’s just that sometimes it’s hard for me to tell how you’re feeling,” he explained, fidgeting nervously. “I know it’s not as easy for you to talk about your feelings, and I know you’ve been through some things that make this sort of relationship more difficult for you. I wish you felt comfortable enough to talk to me about these things.”

“Where is this coming from?” she asked.

“I’ve just been thinking about it lately, how I’m so crazy about you, and I can’t tell if you feel the same way,” he said. “Sometimes I feel such a strong passion from you that it’s almost like I could reach out and grab it.”

He blushed just thinking about how intensely amorous she could be at times. His expression became somewhat somber as he continued.

“But there are other times when it feels like you want nothin’ to do with me,” he said, looking away from her in an attempt to hide his hurt. “And I never know how long it’s going to last, if I’ve done something wrong or if you just need your space. Every time it happens I worry it’ll be the time you decide you’re done with me for good.”

Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, and he struggled to keep them contained.

“I just can’t help feelin’ like you’ve always got one foot out the door,” he said with a sniffle. “Sometimes it feels like you want me close enough to be there when you want me, but not close enough to have something real.”

“Felix…” Tamora trailed off, unable to articulate the many emotions swirling in her mind.

“I’m not sayin’ any of this to make you feel bad,” he said. “I just… I need to know what this is to you.”

He moved off the couch to stand in front of her. Taking both her hands in his, he took a deep breath.

“Tamora, I am fully committed to our relationship. I care about you so much, and I want to be with you for a long time,” he said solemnly. “But I don’t think I can keep doing this if you don’t feel the same way.”

Tamora looked back at him, her eyes wet with tears held captive. She sat before him, unmoving, crushed by the weight of his plea. Her heart felt so stopped-up that she wasn’t even sure what she was feeling, making it impossible for her to comply with his request.

“Tammy, please,” he said, a hint of desperation in his voice as his tears begin to fall. “I understand that you might not be able to tell me everything about how you’re feeling right now, but if you could just tell me  _something—_ tell me you want to be with me, that you care about me.”

Felix waited, every second of silence feeling like the twist of a knife in his heart. He looked into her eyes and swore he could see that there was something she was holding back, and he wanted more than anything for her to finally let it out. Looking back, Tamora could see the hurt she was causing him and she wished she could put a stop to it. Such a feat felt hopeless as the myriad of emotions she was experiencing overwhelmed her into numbness.

After an agonizing moment of pleading with her in silence, a quiet sob slipped past his lips. Her apparent indifference toward him finally broke him, and his bottom lip quivered as he fought to keep it together until he was out of the room. He released her hands, nodding gravely as he turned away from her and left, unable to muster enough control over his emotions to even say goodbye. 

* * *

Hours later, Tamora was still where Felix had left her on the couch. Something about his hurt expression had dislodged the blockage in her heart, and she had been so overpowered by the subsequent flood of emotions that she found herself unable to move. It had taken hours, but she had finally managed to sift through the cluttered mess of feelings, occasionally pulling an important piece from the disorder until she could put the puzzle together at last. She cared about him more deeply than she ever realized, and she broke down as she realized that, if he chose not to be with her now, it would be her own fault. Swiping the tears from her cheek with the back of her hand, she stood from the couch and headed out the door. She didn’t care how late it was, or whether he would even take her back; he needed to know how she felt.

Tamora didn’t even bother knocking once she reached his apartment, instead choosing to let herself in. She had learned a long time ago that nobody locked their doors within the confines of Niceland, a decision that made her mission that much easier. Opening the door to his bedroom, she found him asleep on his back. Based on the haphazard appearance of his sheets, she could tell that he was sleeping restlessly, no doubt due to her earlier actions. She moved to the side of his bed and gently shook him by the shoulder.

“Felix,” she said.

Felix opened his eyes to the sight of her standing above him, which nearly had him jumping out of his pixels as he let out an unflattering yelp. 

“What are you doing here?!” he asked. “You scared me half to death!”

“I’m sorry,” Tamora replied. “I just need to talk to you.”

“…Okay,” he said, his voice shaky with nerves.

He was undoubtedly anxious to hear what she had to say. He had laid all his cards on the table, and now it was her turn. There was no telling what she would say, and he was terrified that he was going to lose her for good.

“Look, I… I’m sorry I haven’t talked to you more about how I’m feeling,” she said. “You were right when you said it was like I had one foot out the door. I couldn’t commit to you.”

Felix sat up, listening intently. Tamora sat down on the edge of the bed.

“I want to apologize for ever making you feel like there were times I didn’t want you around,” she said, holding eye contact with him as she spoke. “It’s true that sometimes I got a little overwhelmed and needed space, but I have always wanted you in my life, and I should have done a better job communicating with you.”

“It’s okay,” Felix said quietly.

“No, it’s not,” she replied. “You are the most important person in my life and I made you feel unwanted. You deserve so much better than that.”

“Thank you for saying that,” he said, truly touched by her apology. He reached out for her hand.

“For a long time it felt like there was something blocking my feelings from coming out. I knew they were in there somewhere, but they got stuck and I couldn’t shake them loose. I couldn’t tell you how I felt because I couldn’t figure it out myself,” she explained. She turned to face him and took his other hand in hers. “But tonight, you helped me get to the bottom of things, and I want to tell you how I feel.”

Felix nodded in nervous anticipation.

“I care about you more than I ever let on. If I lost you, I don’t know what I’d do, because sometimes it feels like you’re the only thing keeping me sane,” she said, a massive weight being lifted off her shoulders with every word. The clog had finally been displaced, and everything she had kept inside for the past several months came flooding out. “I get excited every time I hear you hop into my game, and I still get butterflies when you kiss me.”

Felix squeezed her hands, his eyes brimming with tears. Finally receiving this kind of validation from Tamora felt incredible, and he couldn’t even try to hold it all inside.

“Thank you so much, Tammy,” he sniffled. “It means so much to me to hear you say all that.”

“I should’ve said it sooner,” she said, “because I do care about you and I do want to be with you and I wasn’t doing anything to make sure you knew that.”

Felix couldn’t hold back any longer and released her hands, launching himself forward to wrap his arms around her in a tight embrace. She gladly returned it, curling around him and burying her nose in his hair, breathing in his familiar scent. They stayed that way for a long moment, relishing this precious moment of connection.

“Do you think you can ever forgive me?” she asked.

“Of course,” Felix said, nodding against her chest. “All I wanted was to know that you want the same thing I do, that this relationship means something to you. I’ll never doubt it again.”

“Good. I never would’ve forgiven myself if I lost you like that,” she said, heaving a sigh of relief. “It’s been so long since I’ve been in love that I forget how to deal with it sometimes, but—”

“What?” Felix interrupted, snapping his head up to look at her face.

“Well, what I was  _going_  to say is that I’m glad you’ve had so much patience with me,” she replied, confused by his interruption.

“No, the part before that. You said it’s been a long time since you’ve been in…” he trailed off, afraid to utter the word in case he turned out to be wrong.

“Oh,” Tamora said. The words had come so naturally to her that she hadn’t even thought about what she was saying, although she couldn’t deny that it was true. Looking down at him with his eyes full of hope, she realized that this was what he had needed all along. “Felix, I love you.”

“Oh, Tammy,” he said, his tears starting up again. “I love you, too.”

Felix leaned back into her, squeezing his arms around her. She could feel the wetness of his tears as they soaked into her shirt.

“I should have told you a long time ago,” she said, brushing her fingers through his hair. “It’s been true for a while now.”

“I’ve been wanting to say that to you for so long, but I was too scared to do it,” he said, unmoving from his spot beneath her chin. “I was afraid I would say it and it would push you away.”

Felix pulled back from her embrace to look her in the eyes. He caressed her cheek and smiled, tears still streaming down his cheeks.

“Never in a million years did I think I would have this kind of love in my life,” he said. “I love you so much.”

“I love you,” she replied, leaning in to kiss him. 

The moment their lips met, they were both overcome with emotion. In that instant, they knew that their relationship was made to last. Felix smiled into the kiss, endlessly grateful that they had finally cleared this hurdle. Now, they were truly unstoppable.

“Come on,” Felix said as he pulled away. “Let’s get some sleep. It’s late.”

Tamora settled into bed, immediately wrapping herself around him. Felix grinned, perfectly content to spend the rest of the night like that. He had never experienced this kind of closeness with anyone before her, and after everything they had been through tonight, their bond was stronger than ever. Snuggling in closer to her, he sighed contentedly.

“Felix?” Tamora said before he had the chance to drift off to sleep.

“Hmm?”

“I really do love you,” she said. “And I promise I’ll never let you forget that.”

Felix blushed and pulled her hand forward so he could press a kiss to her knuckles. 

“How could I ever forget?”


End file.
